Where are the protectors of the minorities?

One clear symptom of Malaysia’s slow but definitive decline down the slope of Islamic extremism is when logic, compassion and justice take a back seat to blind religiosity.

And one sure sign that minority religious groups are increasingly being pushed to a corner is when their constitutional rights are superseded by Islamic law, even when these laws are obviously abused by irresponsible and unscrupulous individuals.

The Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the right of Indira Gandhi’s ex-husband to convert his three young children to Islam to deny the kindergarten teacher custodial rights stank of a judiciary that has chosen to shake the dust of its feet with regards to civil cases involving Islamic conversions, at the expense of justice.

The two-to-one ruling means that Indira, who has not held or even seen her daughter for six years now, will have to appeal to the shariah courts in order to nullify her children’s conversion, a proposition as ridiculous as asking a Muslim to seek permission from Islamic courts to convert to another religion.

Indira’s battle with her ex-husband has gone on for years, and it’s plain to all – except some judges – that there is a great travesty of justice, since the conversion of her children had not been done with either her or the children’s desire or consent.

Never mind if her ex-husband is actually fit to care for his children; our legal system made it possible for him to keep them for the simple reason that they were now Muslims (regardless of whether they wanted to be, or not), and his ex-wife was not.

In December last year, a High Court judge issued a warrant of arrest for her ex-husband, and ruled that her three children be returned to her immediately, citing their conversion as unconstitutional.

However, Indira’s joy was short-lived as police chief Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar refused to act on that High Court order on the grounds that it contravened another shariah court order.

Indira’s case is a clear example of what happens when our legal and law enforcement systems lose sight of their duty to protect every citizen, regardless of race or religion, because of a perceived superiority of Islamic law over the Constitution.

Lest we all forget, the constitution is the supreme law of the land, and is meant to ensure equality and justice for all.

But for Indira, and others in a similar predicament, six years of battling an injustice is unlikely to yield a happy ending. She has spent thousands, if not more, on legal fees and other costs, and has endured endless nights of anguish and fear.

Her only crime is that she is not a Muslim.

It defies logic that society’s moral compass has declined with the rise of Islamisation, but that is, unfortunately, what Indira’s case shows us.

A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest, and by that account alone, our country is utterly failing to ensure that the rights of its minority racial and religious groups are protected in an increasingly uncompromising religious environment. – January 3, 2016.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.